Have You Looked Poverty in the Eye Lately?
One weekend not so long ago, my wife and I embarked on a journey upcountry in Kenya to view a parcel of agricultural land near my aunt’s farm. Nestled high up the Nyabondo Plateau located some twenty miles from the port city of Kisumu on the shores of Lake Victoria. This is a productive agricultural region of Kenya with abundant rainfall, rich soil, and a cool climate. The farm borders river Sondu- Miriu, one of the large rivers in Kenya and on which two hydro power plants have been constructed downstream. We could picture our upcountry home next to the roaring river.
When we arrived at the farm we were ushered into a two roomed tin-roofed hut with some windows missing from what I suppose is the bedroom. A tall, thin, hunched old man, named Jaduong, appeared from the bedroom which also acts as a kitchen and greeted us in Dholuo- our vernacular language. He proceeded to tell us his story.
He told us he was a soldier during the Second World War under the British Kings Rifles- Kenya. One day as he was walking in the streets of Nairobi during the colonial period, he was stopped by a group of soldiers and asked for his identification papers, which he declined to produce. When one of the soldiers attempted to whip him, he beat the soldier. The other soldiers set upon him with blows and kicks. He was beaten senseless and left for dead. When he woke up, every part of his body ached. He never recovered completely from his injuries and it has gotten worse with age.
Now Jaduong needed to sell part of his ten acre property to enable his only son, who lives in Nairobi, to construct a house and settle some debts. He said that he was now too old and had nobody to help till the land, and he wanted to settle in the local small town and open a small tea shop to earn a living.
We were taken round the property, which is covered mostly with bush and only a small portion is cultivated with very good maize crop, and shown the portion he wanted to sell. When we returned to the hut, Jaduong asked us for 50 cents to enable him to buy some local cake and a spoon of oil. He said he had not eaten a proper meal in 2 days and was hungry.
Jaduong disappeared into the next room for about 30 minutes to make tea and have his meal while we debated whether to proceed with the transaction or not. Our hearts were torn by his predicament. We have seen extreme poverty before, but even working in development it can seem a step removed from one’s personal decisions.
When it came to negotiation of the price, I couldn’t help but wonder how we were going to be part of the process of escalating his downward spiral into extreme poverty. He explained that the elderly in this area have been by-passed by the government programs because it is considered a productive region and people generally hold more than 2 acres of land. At his age, and with his current health condition and situation of extreme poverty, I knew that his plan to open up a tea shop was likely to fail and probably worsen his situation.
Moreover, I don’t think any microfinance institution would lend him any money. If we did not buy his land he could lease it to somebody else, but the going rate was very low. What could a development practitioner do under these circumstances? Should I have advised him to join a savings group, I wondered, or should I have asked him to form a group of the elderly to lobby the local member of parliament to be considered for the hunger safety net program? Perhaps a financial graduation program with asset building and stabilizing household consumption, building self insurance mechanisms and protecting key assets such as his land is the solution? As a development professional, what would you have advised?
As a private individual, should I have paid a fair price for the land, or walked away? What makes for a personal moral obligation to alleviating poverty? I’m not a journalist reporting his story, but a development professional committed to alleviating poverty. Beyond a chance meeting, what are the ethical responsibilities of development professionals when staring poverty in the face?
Comments
Interesting Moses….
Interesting Moses….
But you wanted some land and you found a willing seller, my question to you is why you are refusing to be a willing buyer or is it that you do not want to have a poor neighbor?
I happen to know you in person and therefore empathize with the situation differently because I know the person you are and this is really you writing this. My development thinking though would be to neighbor him, then invite his son to a discussion as the transaction progresses and provoke him to indeed building a house but with a view to doing more agricultural production on the land.
As you do rightly indicate, the soil is fertile and the maize production is good, there may be merit to make them become the first to become serious smallholder farmers with the river providing the water for irrigation. He does not need to be a kiosk owner as you will need some eyes to oversee your own farm, he could become paid labor for your benefit and you create a symbiotic relationship…
I would say this is a good opportunity, do not sympathize, empathize…you only did not indicate that if you refuse the offer the warrior in him might arise getting you down where he was put!
Hope that helps…
Sad story, thanks for sharing
Sad story, thanks for sharing Moses. Perhaps the challenge for us is to sensitize members of communities to join economic groupings (savings groups, cooperatives, SACCO’s) early in life, so that such decisions are not made so late and at such great risk to individual survival.
Our challenge on the other hand as development practitioners is to ensure that these economic groupings are sustainable and profitable.
Ethical deficit in development process
Dear Moses
Thanks for sharing your observation
In the case of Jaduong (J), ethical responsibility of development professionals , I feel, is to first probe the rudimentary cause for his sordid position. From the facts posted, the root cause appears to be unethical behavior of Jaduong with the group of soldiers by declining to produce identification papers when demanded. For this he has had paid sever penalty pinching through out his life long career and his livelihood as well. This suggests two facts
1. need for nurturing ethical behavior first in human behavior as a preventive measure (Had Mr.J behaved ethically , the crisis could have been avoided without being driven to poverty segment)
2. Synchronizing with the ethical input , economic development function should take place as a curative one for getting desired socio economic impact and outcome
So to say the ethical responsibility of development personals is to prudently design project/strategies /products/services etc in a manner to ensure that there is no ethical deficit in the behavioral economics among the actors and in process of socio economic development of poor. To wit ethics and economic should go together in all development process. Mere reforms in economic arenas resulted many financial crisis only as witnessed even in micro finance industry also. In this context it merits to quote Amartya Sen ‘on impoverishment of welfare economics as a result of the distance that has grown between ethics and economics and particularly on the inadequacy of evaluative criteria used in economics especially modern welfare economics.’ .
Coming to rehabilitation of Mr J in the given capability condition as an individual, it is too late to rejuvenate his life through any fresh injection of micro finance as it would not facilitate for making exit poverty
.However two debatable options include
1) he can sell the left over land and settle with his son at Nairobi provided his son agrees to accommodate ethically with good social relationship and moral responsibility ( or )
2) He can sell the property and keep the sale proceeds as bank savings for meeting contingencies and get admitted in any old age home/care home (government /private)
Thanks for sharing my views
Dr Rengarajan
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